Apple sold a record 13M iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models in opening weekend
Apple Announces Record iPhone 6s & iPhone 6s Plus Sales — iPhone Available in 40 Additional Countries Beginning Friday, October 9 — Apple® today announced it has sold more than 13 million …
Context & Ripple Effects
The record lands exactly where the run-up pointed: a week earlier, Apple had said pre-orders were pacing past last year's 10M-unit first-weekend mark, and the 13M figure confirms that trajectory once store sales began Sept. 25 alongside iOS 9's fastest-ever adoption.
It also caps a strong year for iPhone momentum — earlier in 2015 the iPhone overtook Android in US sales for the first time since 2012 — with a second wave of launches in 40 additional countries set for October 9.
First-order effects
- Apple beats its own prior opening-weekend record by 3M units (13M vs. 10M), validating the pre-order pace it reported the week before launch.
- Supply is immediately the constraint: the same-day announcement of a 40-country expansion on October 9 signals demand outstripping initial availability.
Second-order effects
- Android handset makers competing in the US face a strengthened incumbent coming off its first US sales lead since 2012, forcing them to respond at the high end where the 6s Plus plays.
- Carrier upgrade economics tilt further toward Apple as launch weekends concentrate trade-ins and subsidized upgrades into a single device family.
Third-order effects
- If launch weekends keep scaling, Apple's premium-plus tiers become the volume center of the smartphone market — a pattern later visible when the iPhone 12 crossed 100M units faster than the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 14 Pro Max became the single most-shipped model worldwide.
- Opening-weekend numbers harden into the industry's standard benchmark for launch strength, shaping how rivals time and stage their own flagship rollouts.
The trend: Smartphone demand is consolidating around Apple's premium flagships, with each launch cycle's opening-weekend record raising the bar competitors must clear.